LESSON 0 - SCRIPT

We provide here the script for this video lesson so participants speaking languages that are not yet covered by our platform can translate the content using the Google Translate function (select your language at the top right corner of the page)

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In this video we are introducing an exclusive online course dedicated to organic waste management.

This course is intended to serve as a reference tocommunities around the world and will be soon available to every countryfree of charge.

In this introductory lesson, we are describing the course structure and objectives, who exactlyit will benefit and how.

The focus of this learning center is on organic waste management.

We define organic waste as any type of waste originating from plant or animal sources which can be broken down by other living organisms. We will see that many types of organic waste are generated on our planet today, by our communities, by agriculture and by industry.

Organic waste management is the process of collecting clean organic waste and either composting it (using microbes and worms) into high quality products for use in soil or putting organic waste into a sealed anaerobic digester where gases are extracted to generate energy and the residual material is then returned to the soil as compost.

While our organization and many others are involved with the much bigger cause of helping societies design for the future, experts agree that organic waste management is an area full of opportunity for both our environment and our localeconomies.

There are two main reasons why it is absolutely vital to spread the knowledge that experts and communities have accumulated in this field over the years:

Properly managing organic waste directly contributes to protecting us from the tragic consequences of soil degradation, erosion and climate change. We will look at this correlation in detail in the first part of the course to help you understand how urgently we need to take action. We will share practical steps several communities have already taken to significantly decrease their impact on the environment.

Number two, cities around the world as well as businesses and agriculture can truly benefit from considering their organic waste as a precious resource. It’s not only a way to preserve human health and social structures; it’s a way for communities to localize opportunities, and to ensure access and equity. We will see how organic waste can be cost effectively collected as a clean, source-separated product for use in composting and anaerobic digestion programs for the benefit of the community and at less cost than current processes.

We will get into more detail later on in the course but at this stage, it’s enough to say that the collection, processing and return of all urban and rural organic waste to our world’s soils is both the easiest and most important action any of us can take to protect our precious earth.

Anyone with an interest in the topic of organic waste management will benefit from this course. It will add value to the careers of people working on environmental matters, especially those associated with soil quality and carbon management, water efficiency, fertilizer regimes, food preparation and waste management.

In order to match the needs of 2 different groups playing a key role on the topic, this course is released in 2 versions:

A first version will address local government staff, policy makers and anyone influencing – directly or indirectly- a community’s waste management system.

A second version focuses primarily on the agricultural sector but will also be relevant to researchers, educationalists and environmentalists

Please note that the course is designed for a beginner level. You don’t need to have any prior knowledge of, or experience with, organic waste management to follow this course.

We briefly discussed how urgent it is to take action and mentioned that communities can greatly benefit from considering organic waste as a valuable resource.

A primary objective for this course is to help you build a vision; we will share success stories from around the world and demonstrate that regardless of climate, economy and regulations, sustainable solutions exist and are today delivering tangible community value worldwide.

You will be able to explain the connection between global warming and soil degradation as well as the danger of landfilling as a waste of resources, a methane generator and a liability for future generations.

You will be able to explain and quantify the disturbing paradox between edible food waste and hunger and gain insight as to why the food production & distribution system is in crisis

You will get a solid overview of the most current technologies & processes, as well as their pros and cons and you will understand what factors influence the decision making process. We will see that these factors can be cultural, social, structural and economic. You will learn about the mechanics behind the legislation, business models and economics.

We will talk about Separate Collection Systems for Organic Waste and their key role in the story.

You will learn how to identify and evaluate composting and anaerobic digestion best practices

Finally, we will provide insights for your startup roadmap and recommend easy steps you can take to get started.

This course is relevant to communities world-wide as it takes a global perspective and teaches systems evaluation rather than recommending solutions. We will discuss how the landscape changes from one region to another and you will find out that approaching this topic from a global perspective is a great way to start your journey.

This course is broken down into 7 video lessons that we’ve kept quite short in order to make sure the content is easily digestible.

At every step of the way you will be asked to participate in short quizzes to evaluate your progress and ensure that you will be able to use what you’ve learned. Later on we will release a more specialized set of courses which will take an in-depth look at each one of the topics we’ve introduced here. The knowledge you gain on compostory.org will raise your career prospects and empower you to affect positive change in both your community and the world

This program is not-for-profit and mission-driven. It has been developed by a group of independent international experts under the supervision of our Advisory Board. Our strict review processes guarantee the quality and objectivity of the knowledge we share on this platform and this course is intended to serve as authority content globally. You can find more information about the team behind this program in the “about” section.

Please note that you can easily follow the program from mobile phones & tablets.

We will be releasing new content regularly, and more languages will be available shortly.